Devon's doubts about his relationship reach a peak as his friends and family gather for his big wedding day. As Chastain's leading medical device company, Quovadis, continues to succeed, Julian makes a discovery that leaves her uneasy about her involvement in it all. Conrad continues to work on his relationship with Marshall. Bell takes a risky offer in order to make a mistake from his past disappear.
In 2018, it has become very difficult to keep up with every television show out there. It's even more difficult to provide adequate coverage on this site about the episodes that air every week. Not every show can get full coverage because of my busy and hectic viewing schedule. As such, some reviews will now be condensed to give only some summary thoughts. But it also affords a space for me to jot down my thoughts on the various episodes. And so, here are my thoughts on this week's episode of FOX's The Resident.
"The Dance" was written by Amy Holden Jones & Andrew Chapman and directed by Rob Corn
Even though this episode is titled "The Dance," it doesn't feature the dance that Devon has been practicing with Julian for his wedding to Priya. That's not terribly surprising considering the dance was featured a couple of episodes ago with everyone at the hospital getting in on the fun. In fact, it's not even that surprising that Devon calls off the wedding to Priya. He has such horrible timing. And yet, that's the direction his story has been going in ever since Julian was introduced. This was all inevitable. However, it is appreciated that Julian has her own completely separate story here that has absolutely nothing to do with Devon. She exists behind being the object of his sexual attraction who breaks up his engagement with Priya, who always seemed too good for him. And now, the audience should be very concerned about Julian because of what Gordon Page is willing to do in order to protect his company. This show has featured numerous criminal acts. People have broken the law in order to protect themselves from the fallout of their medical decisions. Some have actually suffered the consequences as well. Lane Hunter is now in jail even though she's not planning on staying there for too much longer. Bell is more than cooperative in order to bail her out. He sees it as something that can only protect Chastain in the long run. It just means delving further into his relationship with Gordon and Quovadis. The audience is fully aware that he may never financially recover after this company's fraud is exposed. At first, it seemed like that demise was imminent. Gordon may not even be able to take the company public before his deceit catches up to him. Instead though, he catches Julian trying to blow the whistle on the corruption. He gives her a big speech about betrayal. It's not really an earned moment. It's also immediately jarring to see all of this heading towards Julian being driven off the road. That's so dark and tragic. It leaves things in a precarious position heading into a little hiatus. All of this will ensure that things will continue to work out in Gordon and Bell's favor. But their luck is bound to run out eventually. The only question remaining is if Bell will be able to survive yet another scandal? If so, he truly would be the cockroach of this world who can survive anything. Julian isn't the only character whose fate is left in limbo at the conclusion of this hour either. Marshall becomes the patient this week with the reveal that he is suffering from complications of Crohn's disease. It's a condition he's had for twenty years but never told Conrad about. And now, he expects his son to make his medical decisions should the unfortunate happen during surgery. He trusts him with that responsibility even though it leaves Conrad aghast and not knowing what to think. This cliffhanger basically means that one of the two characters is going to die in the first episode back in 2019. It's easy to assume that it will be Julian considering Glenn Morshower is a series regular and Jenna Dewan is a recurring guest star (who has production on a Netflix show to get to at some point). However, it's still within the realm of possibility that Marshall dies here because it would create a compelling story for Conrad. Plus, it would add some shading to their relationship and what could have been considering the show really hasn't done a whole lot to add new texture to it this season so far.
